Chapter 1 - Off to Saigon

Good morning Berlin, you can be so ugly...

5:50 a.m.

I wake up, as always when I'm excited, 10 minutes before my alarm goes off. Internal clock.

Winter has also reached Berlin now. There is still some snow on the street as I look out the window.

I take off the bed sheets to put them in the washing machine again. For Silas, my subtenant, who will 'take care' of my apartment until I return. I pack my last things into my luggage, I've charged my batteries and of course used my toothpaste again. In the meantime, I also make one last coffee in my, patinated by limescale, kettle. It tastes as always, quite decent.

Accompanied by a last drop of vitamin D, three BCAA tablets, a portion of my turmeric neem stuff, and a cup of warm water with honey to wash it down.

A quick visit to the toilet and off to the tram. In my light layered clothing, it's easy to endure the -8°C for 10-15 minutes. I don't feel like having to carry my thick winter jacket with me all the time...

Fortunately, the BVG is delayed again, so I only freeze minimally...

Skip to the airport. After the tram and regional train ride, I am at BER. 1 hour and 45 minutes until departure. Should be fine. I had actually planned for 2 hours.

Check-in of my 14kg backpack and security check of the three small hand luggage bags go smoothly. On the Scoot flight, you should be prepared, because there will only be a small meal and EVERYTHING, including water, is priced separately for the 12-hour flight. Luckily, I have a bag full of goodies with me.

Sorry Scoot, you won't rip me off.

In the duty-free area, I stock up on pumpernickel cheese bread and 2 liters of water for 18€. I confidently forget my new Visa card PIN, but remember it when I dig for cash.

9:05 a.m.

I'm at the gate, perfectly timed, and walk to my flight seat with extra legroom, which of course I had to pay extra for. But it's worth it. The 90$. I just about fit in the seat's width. But the legroom... Simply a dream.

9:35 a.m.

Off to Singapore. The Dreamliner takes off. With a view of our new, super cool and expensive Berlin airport, I fall asleep immediately.

One hour later, I am woken up. The first and only meal is served. A small portion of rice with chicken and a pack of mini cookies. Plus 300ml of water. Prepaid, 15$. Quite steep considering that the flight will still last another 11 hours. But it doesn't matter, I'm prepared.

11:00 a.m.

I've now inflated my neck pillow and relax while checking out the window darkening function. Quite high tech. By pressing a button, the window can be electronically polarized, which ultimately makes the glass completely opaque.

Seems to be the only free feature here, as there is no entertainment like a TV or video games. No power sockets or radio. Well, discount airline seems to be the keyword here. You could book wifi, but I don't trust the whole thing. Even though I would really like to write to someone, I'll wait until I'm in Singapore.

What I notice now is that my seat neighbor has moved behind me to an empty seat, so I even have the armrests completely to myself. Leaning back to the maximum, the person behind me also has enough space, of course I asked if it was okay for him. It is, so I put in earplugs and try to sleep again.

2:36 p.m.

I woke up again. I think I've made up for my short night's sleep from Feb 7th to Feb 8th. Now I start to break into my provisions. I have beef jerky, rosemary crackers, and a few pieces of dried mango, of course unsulfured. There are still 7 hours of flight time left. I think I'll spend this time listening to music and thinking about my cloud.

Since it's already a bit cooler, I put on my neck scarf. It was the right decision to buy such a thing. By the way, I took off my shoes for more comfort. However, I'm considering putting them back on soon. We will see.

8:26 p.m.

I put my shoes back on a long time ago. I slept again. Just now had salami sticks with, who would have thought it, rosemary crackers. As dessert, the remaining dried mango. Now I still have a good hour of flight to Singapore. Somehow it went by pretty quickly. It's probably due to the lack of screens, which always remind you of where you are and which flight route is still ahead of you.

In Singapore, I will have a layover of 3 hours. I will use that time to brush my teeth and have an overpriced coffee.

My flight to the final destination, Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon, will depart at 7:30 a.m. local time. Duration 2 hours.

I'm looking forward to finally being able to wear my flip flops. The upcoming times will now be in local time, as my phone will adjust as soon as I have WiFi. Just a little disclaimer.

09.02.

5:18 a.m.

I start a conversation with my seat neighbor Jan, shortly before landing. He is traveling to Australia and will do 1 year of work and travel there. Together, we walk out of the plane and go to Starbucks. Eat a little something and sip a coffee. Can and Thai Ha from Berlin join us. The two apparently were on the same plane.

Thai is traveling to Malaysia, Can is also going to Australia. I take a photo of us. Thai is so kind and writes me a list of Vietnamese words. Shoutouts to her again!

7:02 a.m.

After I said goodbye to the three of them, I'm already sitting on the last plane. Of course, again with extra legroom, this time with a mask. Endurable for 2 hours, I think, even though I would prefer not to wear one...

There is another security check in front of the gate. I drink the rest of my water in one go. After the check, there is a water dispenser. Good idea, German airports could definitely learn from that...

I am now looking forward to my destination. I'm happy that I've almost completed my 17 hours of travel. The sun is just rising.

12:33 p.m.

After a 30-minute taxi ride, I lie in bed at Language Exchange Hostel 1, after a refreshing shower. My last goals for the day are to eat, get a SIM card, and withdraw money. But first, focus on my bed...

3:55 p.m.

I come to my senses. Snuggled up in my thin blanket. That felt really good.

But now it's time for me to dive into the hustle and bustle of Saigon's streets for the first time. I easily reach my daily goals. I withdraw 1 million Dong from the bank. Buy two large bottles of water and overwhelm the saleswoman with the 500k Dong bill. Sorry for that.

I get a SIM card with 6GB of 4G internet per day, with unlimited calls to Vietnamese networks for 7€. It's amazing when you realize that it's theoretically valid until March 23rd.

Happy with my success, I treat myself to a typical Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and ice cubes on my street. I also get a kind of herbal tea on the house.

I'm a little worried about the ice cubes because I really don't want to drink the tap water here. Let's see how I feel tomorrow.

After I sent my loved one the new number, I pay and go back to the hostel. There, I get in touch with the residents. Here's a brief bullet point list about the characters:

Ryan - American, around 40 years old, teaching 4th/5th grade English, working illegally, likes to drink beer

Liew - Malay, around 55 years old, sales management, traveling worldwide, been on vacation in Vietnam for 8 months, lives with his wife in Japan

Jay - Korean, around my age, on vacation, leaving tomorrow

Todd - American, around 38 years old, also teaching English, working illegally, is definitely a gym-goer

Phong - Vietnamese, around 30 years old, receptionist, just started, speaks only broken English

Alex - no information, he also joins our group relatively late, around 30 years old, apparently smokes regularly. However, I don't learn anything else about him because he keeps to himself and doesn't participate in the conversation. But he speaks fluent English.

There is also a South African guy, whose name I remember as Nova. I briefly met him at noon. But he didn't come out of his room again until I was practically going to bed at 11:30 p.m. I know from Todd and Ryan that he smokes a lot of weed and is unemployed. Maybe I'll find out more...

Since I saw Jay eating something delicious when I went to the ATM, I asked him what it was and where I could get it. Liew asked Phong to support me. So the two of us go out of the hostel, cross the street to a stand. He orders for me.

110k Dong - around 4€

We return to the hostel. The nice woman brings me the food across the street to the hostel on a silver tray.

Crazy service

It includes boiled duck, a salad, rice soup, and preserved blood. Tastes super delicious. The woman simply picks up the tray from the stand at some point.

A completely different world...

Wild conversations break out. Todd and Ryan have very funny stories to tell. An old man, born in the 50s, joins us from the street, also American. He also tells funny stories. Unfortunately, I forgot his name...

Skip to dinner.

8:48 p.m.

Ryan and Jay go with me to the chicken nugget and chips stand. Ryan shows me a few stores and where I can get good coffee. He has to work again at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

Back at the hostel, I eat peacefully, and we chat about everything.

At some point, Ryan falls asleep on the couch, Todd goes to get his daily late-night snack at McDonald's, and I chat a little with Liew.

11:30 p.m.

I say goodbye and go to the room on the second floor. Take a shower and brush my teeth again.

12:18 a.m.

Blog entry finished. Some pictures are missing. I will try to take more pictures and write less from tomorrow on!

For all those who discover my typos and sentence structures:

Send me the corrected version 🌈

Love from Saigon to everyone who knows me